Silly CBC
June 15th, 2008 by robert
CBC is premiering the Canadian version of How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? this Sunday night. I’m very excited for this, not only because I have friends in the production of The Sound of Music opening in Toronto this fall, but because of the national interest they might possibly be taken in a piece of musical theatre. The series and ensuing production have been a raring success in London, but part of me wonders how much that will be echoed here. Great Britain is easily travelled due to its small size and it extensive ail network. Someone from North England with enough desire to travel south to London to see the show can do so rather easily. Canada, however, is a much larger country, and I wonder how much interest a family in Vancouver will show for a performance happening on the other side of Confederation in Toronto. We shall see.
But it’s not even this that has me confused. It’s when CBC has chosen to to air it’s first episode of Maria. This Sunday, June 15 at 8pm. Scan your TV guide and take a look at what else is on this Sunday at 8pm. Go ahead. I’ll wait. Did you find it? There, on CBS. The 62nd Annual Tony Awards! CBC, really? There are only so many musical theatre fans in the country. These fans are your main target audience for Maria (yes, the reality TV folks might show some interest too … but let’s be honest here) and you’ve decided to pit yourself against The Tony Awards?! Talk about splitting your audience.
Yes, people have VCRs and recordable DVDs nowadays, and yes people will probably be able to download both shows within a few hours of their airing, but don’t you aim to have people watch the show when broadcasted? Don’t you want people to channel surf and land on you, not have them have to choose between episode one of your new series, and Broadways’s biggest night? For my part, I’ll be recording Maria and watching the Tony’s live, because I’m that kind of a dork.
Silly, silly CBC …
